Rogue
by BurgAndy3721
Summary: The war is over but life has just begun for the former gundam pilots. Suddenly a new girl appears with connections to Heero's past. Who is she? Exgirlfriend, family, or worse? AC 198
1. The Mysterious Girl

**Chapter 1: The Mysterious Girl**

**Ring**

"Ugg, stupid phone," Heero groaned rolling over in bed.

**Ring**

He glanced at the clock. Half past noon. Who calls at half past noon?

**Ring**

Don't People ever sleep?

**Ring**

Heero pulled the blanket over his head. _Let the answering machine get it._ He thought.

**Ring**

"You have reached me," he heard his voice say. "If you don't know who 'me' is then you shouldn't be calling. Anyways if it's important leave a message after the beep, if not stop calling."

**BEEP**

"Hey Heero, or 'me'," There was a pause for laughter. "This is Relena, and I was just calling to see if you wanted to hang out for awhile this afternoon. So meet me in the food court in the mall at 2. Feel free to bring a friend or two. If you're not going to make it, be sure to call me. Bye!"

Heero rolled over again. he saw no real reason for not meeting Relena. The mall was cool. Hey, he might even invite Duo along.

School was starting next week, and everyone wanted to get out and enjoy the last of Summer. Everyone, except Heero that is. Life wasn't the same for him anymore, and even though he felt like he should be up and moving, the laziness just seemed to bare down on him more of' than not.

Heero just wanted to sleep. But hey, 2 o'clock was still an hour and a half away. So with that he rolled over one final time and closed his eyes.

* * *

Quatre glanced at the screen far above the street. It held an advertisment for Peacecraft College. The college was elite, very hard to get in.

Of course Quatre, Heero, and Duo would be attending. It all comes from knowing the founder. Relena Peacecraft, or Relena Darlin as she still insisted upon referring to herself, was actually the reason Quatre was up this early. She had insisted that he and Duo meet her at the food court. She wanted to have some sort of Birthday party/gathering (to hang out) for Heero and wanted everyone to show up.

It was stupid really. Today wasn't Heero's birthday, nor was any day soon. At least not that anyone knew. That would be touching on the past. Every time anyone, including Relena, would bring up Heero's past, he would clam up and then proceed to go off wandering for days. Eventually everyone gave up. There may be no more wars but some poeple still wanted to keep secrets.

_Oh well,_ Quatre thought to himself. _That's no excuse for why we can't party._

* * *

Just after 2 Heero climbed out of his car and began to walk toward the food court. Duo hadn't answered his phone earlier, which was unusual, but not un-heard of.

As Heero steped inside, he found himself a little shoked. Duo, Quatre, and Relena were all sitting at one table off in the corner together. Relena jumped up to greet him.

"Glad you got the message. I figured that you were just sleeping."

It was scary what she knew. "You're wrong. I was out jogging and missed the call."

"Ok," she smiled, not quit accepting the story. "Anyways, Happy Birthday!"

Heero walked over to the table with her and sat down. "You know it's not my birthday."

"No I don't," Relena smiled. "You won't tell me so I decided to just take a guess and hope I was right."

"Well you're wrong."

"Says who? You can't be trusted. You lie!"

"I do not."

"Of course you do. Like when you told me that you would kill me the second time we meet." She stopped to throw Heero a glance.

"She's got you there," Duo mumbled while Quatre laughed.

"Who said I was lying?" Heero asked. "I just haven't found the best moment yet." Everyone laughed, although it was a nervous laugh, because with Heero you just never knew.

"Excuse me miss?" a female voice asked from behind Heero and Relena.

Heero turned around a saw a face that brought back bittersweet memories. Black hair and ice blue eyes, he shuddered. He had never expected to see that face again, although he sometimes hoped. Apparently though, everyone was not as stunned as he was, so she continued.

"You might want to watch out for Mr. Yuy here. His past is darkened with dirty little secrets," and with that she walked away leaving everyone speechless.

After a moment, however, the conversation continued as Relena went off as to how rude some people could be.

It was only Duo who noticed how pale Heero had gone.

* * *

In the years following the war life had changed drastically for the former gundam pilots. They had once been trained to fight, and fight well, however with no fighting of any kind going on they were forced to re-adjust to life, as civilians.

Chang Wufei had an easy time of this. He accepted an offer to join the preventors, and now worked alongside Noin and Poe. Wufei had adjusted his definition of justice several times, but finally had his feet firmly on the ground as to how to handle it.

Trowa Barton, as he still refered to himself, returned to the traveling circus. He spent a lot of time in space, as it appears that the colonies have more demand for a circus than the Earth. Trowa had settled the matters behind his past. He had decided that he would probably never know, and began to look towards his future, the life that lay ahead.

Duo Maxwell had wandered the colonies for awhile, before finally settling back on earth (something about liking clouds...). Nothing ever developed between Hildi and him, because of some guy named Max. They still to this day remain close friends however, and he always visits her when he's up in the colonies. Duo had also accepted Relena's offer to enroll in college and, college life was treating him well. Parties rule!

Quatre Raberba Winner still kept in touch with his sisters (all 29 of them!)! Quatre had briefly returned to the Winner estates, but had immediately accepted Relena's offer to attend the newly founded Peacecraft College. So he left his sisters in charge and moved out. He had wanted to leave anyways. Lately, he noticed, he could never seem to stay in one place.

Heero Yuy had never quit adjusted to his new life. He attended Peacecraft College, but only because he had nothing better to do. The classes hardly kept his attention, and he would aimlessly wander around town some nights with no objective, only to show up for class again the next morning. Relena, especially, had begun to worry about Heero when he said that he would rather stay home and sleep rather than go see a boxing match with her.

Recent events had made Relena begin to worry even more. This strange girl, and her comment, hadn't worried Relena until she had gotten up this morning. Something about that girl just didn't seem right. That girl had appeared and disappeared almost instantly. So fast that you hardly noticed, until you thought about it. Thinking about it now she realized she'd only ever seen 3 people move that fast; Heero, Duo, and Wufei. There may be of no connection, but it was still unnerving.

The doorbell rang. Relena snapped out of her thoughts and back into her office. The doorbell rang again. _Give me a minute! _Relena thought. She got up, walked across the house, and answered the door, but not before the doorbell had rung one more time.

Relena let out a huge gasp when she opened the door. The mystery girl was standing in front of her. Seeing her again brought something up from deep within Relena. It was a feeling of familiarity, mostly from her movements. It was as if she had seen this girl before, and not just yesterday.

The girl stood there with her black hair pulled back in a ponytail looking like she was ready for a fight. You didn't need the battle fatigue's and combat boots to tell you that. Her clothes looked worn, as if she had been using them for a long time.

"Well," the girl said, "are you going to invite me in or just stand there staring?"

Relena stepped out of the way. Her gut told her not to, but her head was screaming that it had to know. "Who are you?" escaped from her lips before she could stop herself.

"Me?" the girl asked pacing through the living room. "My name is Jade. Jade Meka. If you really wanted to know you just had to ask."

Jade! So the mystery girl did have a name. "So why are you here?" Relena asked swallowing a lump in her throat.

"Leverage. Plain and simple. Heero doesn't want to talk to me and I need to talk to him."

"So how am I leverage?"

"Simple, you're going to call the idiot and let him know that you've just been taken hostage. He has 2 hours to get here."

"Hostage?"

"Yes! Si! Ja!, Hai!"

Relena felt herself begin to freak out.

"Well you better get moving," Jade reminded her, "only an hour 59 left."

A tear ran down Relena's face as she dialed up Heero's number. His face appeared on the screen. "What's wrong?"

"Heero," Relena began, Jade smiling just out of sight of the camera/screen, "I need help."


	2. Throwing your life away

**Chapter 2: Throwing your life away**

Heero drove as fast as he could towards Relena's place. It wasn't a long drive in the first place, so he would be there in a moment. This was an emergency though, so he was aiming to cut his time in half.

Relena hadn't mentioned any names but he knew it was Jade. He hadn't been sure at first, but now he knew for sure that the girl he had seen yesterday had been Jade. This would be just like her style too. What he couldn't understand is why? What could be so important that she would do this? Why would she come back?

Slamming his car into park, Heero ran into the building. He had plenty of weapons on him, but he was still on guard. If he knew Jade well enough, she would have plenty more on her. When he got to Relena's door, he stopped. Heero took a deep breath, and slowly opened the door. He would have gone around to a side window, but he knew that he had to face Jade. Trying to sneak up on her would only provoke her further. Just as he had expected, Jade sat in a chair facing him. Two guns pointed at his head.

"Impressive time," she smirked. "She must be special to you."

* * *

Relena let out a huge sigh of relief when Heero walked in. She was sitting on the couch, just behind Jade. As long as Heero showed up, Relena knew she would be fine.

"Impressive time," she heard Jade say. "She must be special to you."

"That doesn't concern you." Heero responded glaring at her. He was slipping into soldier mode. Relena could tell by the emotionless glare in his eyes. Relena had worked so hard to keep that look out of his eyes, she would hate to have her being taken hostage push Heero back to his old ways.

"Heero," Relena said, but he ignored her. He was intently staring at this Jade girl.

"What's the matter?" Jade asked him lowering her guns, and standing up. "I thought you would be happy to see me."

This small comment, from this girl, snapped Heero back to normal. Somehow, this had struck a nerve. "I would be," he said, "but not like this. I can see that you still haven't managed to grow up. This is stupid on so many levels."

"How so?" Jade inquired with a smirk on her face.

"It's stupid that you're here in the first place! After everything I did for you! You know what a risk this is, and then to take Relena 'hostage'. I would have never thought you to be such an idiot."

"It was a good plan though, and it worked. Unlike you, I regret nothing. I get done what needs to be done, and to hell with myself. You're just too soft." She taunted.

Relena was confused. These two obviously knew each other. But Heero was far from soft. Relena had seen him almost die trying to get 'things' done, more than any of the other pilots. Who was this girl, and who was she to think that she knew Heero at all? Relena was left out, and it bugged her. It was only for the interest of knowing more, that she kept quiet.

"But why Relena?"

Jade laughed. "Besides what you, a major idiot, may think I am not stupid. I saw the way you were looking at her in the mall yesterday. Flirting it up. That is so gross by the way, I would have expected better from you. It's a wonder you got anything done during that little war we had. All and all though, she was an obvious choice."

Relena shuddered. She hated the fact that she always seemed to get targeted, especially when she was with Heero. If it was for political reasons she could understand, but not for being with Heero! If she didn't know so much that deep down Heero really must love her, she would have gotten out long before. It wasn't just luck that Heero always came to her rescue. He cared, even if he never would say those exact words. If only it wasn't Pargan's day off, then none of this would have happened. Jade would have never gotten control like this.

"So what's the point of this 'hostage'?" Heero asked Jade. "You know that I'm not to negotiate with terrorists."

"Oh, so you do still remember your training. Well, that's fine. I'm no terrorist though, not that it much matters. I don't expect you to negotiate. I expect you to just accept my terms so that we can move on. The hostage was just to get you here. You made it clear to me long ago that you didn't want contact with me, and I didn't want contact with you then either, but circumstances have changed. Oh please, stop looking like a puppy who just got their chew toy taken away. I'm not going to hurt her, if that's what you are worried about. She's free to leave, or do whatever now. That is, as long as you talk to me." Jade threw her guns down on the floor.

Heero glanced at Relena and nodded his head, silently telling her to leave. She shook hers in return. She wanted to know what was going on! Besides, it was her house! Heero let out a sigh, Relena could tell the situation wasn't what he wanted it to be. She didn't care. She wanted to know.

"So talk," he said.

"I need to get in touch with J"

"J died, along with G, S, O, and H."

"I don't care about the others. Cut the crap! I need to talk to J. I have a few choice words for him that I would rather deliver in person."

"He's dead!"

"Stop bullshitting me! I know that you know where he is. He's still tinkering with his stupid machines and you know it! Now, I don't know why you're hiding him, but you had better 'fess up."

Heero glanced at Relena, who saw a flicker of fear in his eyes. But she couldn't be sure because he quickly turned back to Jade. "If I do take you to where he is, why do you want to 'talk' to him? You are out! Why risk having to go back in? It's not just you that's in danger with this. They could go after me too. You need to know why I'm so hesitant to just let you hop on the next shuttle to throwing your life away."

"Mhn hmnm tm hmnmt mn," Jade mumbled, sinking back down into the chair.

"What?" Heero asked his voice also low. Apparently, Relena wasn't the only one that didn't understand what she said.

"The chip is back on!" Jade yelled.

Heero immediately rushed to her side and grabbed her shoulders. "Are you serious?" He had gone pale.

"Hai," she nodded now looking at the floor. Heero immediately locked her in an embrace.

A moment later, with perfect timing, Duo came strolling in whistling. "Hey Relena, I need to ask a fa...whoa!" he said observing the scene. Heero who had now let go of Jade, and gotten up, looked like he was in shock.

Relena was confused. What was this chip? Jade was definitely close to Heero. Relena had never seen Heero show that much affection to anyone, good or bad. She must have been with him for his training with Doctor J, or else, how would she know J? But still, the familiarity! Heero didn't act like that towards any of the other pilots. Still, none of the other pilots were girls. That made a difference, and Relena felt her blood boil with jealousy.

"Heero," Relena said crossing over to him, "are you okay?"

"No," Heero said, not even turning to face her. He did, however, turn to Duo. "I'm going to need everyone's help and NOW."

"Ok," Duo nodded.


	3. Wer sind Sie?

**Chapter 3: Wer sind Sie?**

Duo was confused and he hated it. Everyone had decided to wait until Quatre, Trowa, and the Wu-man came, before finding out the details of this "escapade". It made sense, but still Duo had to at least know about the girl.

He had asked Heero earlier, but hardly got a response. "I don't want to repeat myself," Heero had said. "You'll find out with everyone else!" It was going to drive Duo crazy. He knew that he was the closest thing that Heero had to a best friend. He could have at least told him something!

Even Relena seemed to have some sort of idea of who she was, from listening to the conversation between Jade and Heero. But she was just storming around the house slamming into things and being generally bitchy.

He glanced out the window to where Jade and Heero were talking. No, talking was defiantly not the word for what they were doing. Screaming was a better match. Heero was yelling so much that he was turning red in the face, and Jade seemed to just to be instigating. There was something about her…

Duo was further confused when he saw Heero throw up his hands in frustration and storm towards the house. Duo had never seen Heero as one to show any emotion, let alone be in such a rage. It was unnatural. Who was this girl that could change Heero so much? It was just one big mystery, and it only reminded Duo how close he was to hopefully knowing the truth.

A moment passed and Heero came walking in the door, looking like his normal emotionless self. Had Duo not just seen it, he would have never known that Heero had just been outside, screaming his head off. Leave it to the He-man to make a fast recovery.

"Hey there," Duo waved to Heero from across the room. Heero remained silent, despite the fact the Duo was grinning like an idiot. However, Heero did come over and join Duo by the window. They both just stood in silence for a moment. Duo could hear that Heero's breathing was slightly increased, but this was the only indication that Heero had been yelling.

"Quatre showed up a bit ago," Duo said breaking the silence. "He's in the kitchen with Relena. Trowa and Wufei still haven't made it here yet though." Heero nodded but continued staring out the window. There was a flash of something that looked like longing in his eyes. But just as fast it disappeared. How close was Heero to this girl? Did he love her? Was she like that? No wonder Relena was of pouting.

Duo glanced out the window again. Jade was doing push ups. Why, he did not know. She was one tough girl though, that much was obvious.

Suddenly he came up with an idea. "You know," he said, glancing at Heero out of the corner of his eye. "Jade is pretty hot. Hot little body with fire in those blue eyes. Is she single? Do you know?"

Before Duo knew what happened, Heero had grabbed him by the shirt collar, spun him around, and pinned him against the wall. "Duo," he spat, "I know how you treat women, and if I catch you within five feet of her, I will kill you. Let there be no doubt in your mind," and with that, Heero let go of him, and stormed away.

Duo's idea apparently had been a stupid one. _So defensive, _Duo thought to himself. He turned back towards the window. Jade had apparently worked out long enough, and was just lying in the grass. Duo watched her and suddenly knew that everything was going to change

* * *

Trowa walked out of the terminal, after exiting the spacecraft. Duo hadn't been very specific when he contacted him, but apparently Heero had urgently requested his presence.

Heero was a solo fighter. He always had been. Trowa liked him for that. In some odd way, Heero reminded Trowa of himself. This was why it worried Trowa so much, that Heero suddenly wanted his help. It just wasn't like Heero to admit that he needed help. It usually just had to be thrust upon him.

What could possibly be so bad, that Heero thought he couldn't handle it himself?

* * *

Relena sat on the counter in the kitchen waiting for Quatre to get back. The blond boy had just ran down to the corner to pick up some aspirin for Relena since she had such a bad head ache. Her head throbbed and she closed her eyes. 

_Who is she?_ Relena asked herself. The question just kept coming back. Even knowing that she would find out in a few hours was more than Relena could bare. Relena looked up as she felt a hand on her arm. Heero was standing in front of her.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Relena felt her heart jump. Maybe Heero did care for her. This other girl was from the past. He obviously had moved past whatever he had with her. "Did she hurt you?" Heero asked when she didn't say anything.

"No," Relena snipped. Who was she kidding? Heero only wanted to know is she was physically hurt. He could care less about anything that was going on inside her head.

"Good," he nodded. "I'm heading down to the conference room to get things ready for when Trowa and Wufei arrive.

"That's fine," Relena nodded. "I'll ask Jade if she wants to come in and help set up too."

"No," Heero glared at her. "Jade has enough things on her mind without having to deal with any of our stupid problems. Don't bother her." With that Heero turned and left the room.

Relena's heart started to tear in two. Heero had never cared for anyone that way, that she could remember, let alone her.

* * *

Duo had another plan. He was going to ask Jade, herself, who she was. She was bound to know the answer! Stepping out of the house, and into the garden where Jade was, Duo smiled to himself. This was his best plan ever, as long as Heero didn't see him, not that he really cared that much.

"Hey Jade," Duo greeted her walking up. Jade gave him a look that definitely said 'and you're talking to me again why?'

He extended his hand out to her, smiling as large as his face would allow. "My name is Duo Maxwell. Formerly, I was also known as the God of Death." Jade reluctantly accepted his handshake.

"Formerly?" she questioned.

"Well there's no need for a God of Death with no wars," he explained. "So I mostly go by the God of Party now."

What sounded like a giggle came from Jade, but it was fast, and he couldn't be sure. "I see," she said, clearly nodding her head. She appeared to be more relaxed so Duo continued on with the conversation.

"So where ya from?" he questioned.

"Me? Originally Japan, same as Heero, but I've spent the last four years in Germany."

"Sprechen Sie deutsch?" he asked laughing.

"Ja," she replied, "ich spreche deutsch sehr gut. Sprichst du deutsch?"

Duo laughed, "I have no idea what you just said. It sounded like 'yes, something something something German.'" Jade laughed openly this time, so Duo went on to explain. "I only know how to ask if you speak German, I don't even know how to say I don't"

"Do you want to?" Jade asked him.

"Sure," Duo replied as Jade cleared her throat.

"Ich spreche kein deutsch." she said clearly pronouncing each syllable.

"E-ch spa-wreck-ah ka-I-en deutsch." Duo repeated.

Jade and Duo both cracked up this time at his exaggerated attempt to speak German. When they had both calmed down Duo finally asked, "So how do you know Heero?"

"Oh him," Jade said rolling her eyes, "He's my brother."

"What!"


	4. Reveling the past

**Chapter 4: Reveling the past**

"What the hell is going on here?" an annoyed Wufei asked Duo. "I was just greeted, in German, I think, by some hyper-active girl with black hair."

Wufei caught Duo glancing at both Heero and the strange girl, before he broke out into hysterical laughter. Wufei tried to get Duo to talk, but everything he said only seemed to set Duo off again. Duo was weird, but not this weird. Wufei wondered why the hell he was even here.

Wufei stormed into the kitchen. _Stupid Duo, _he thought, _couldn't give a strait answer to save his life!_

"Nice to see you again," Trowa greeted Wufei with a smile. Trowa's smiles were not often seen, he gave them only when greeting people he hadn't seen in awhile. Wufei and Trowa hadn't seen each other in over a year.

In the kitchen with Trowa also stood Quatre and Relena. Wufei mumbled a greeting, but before he could begin to question any of them, Heero walked in.

"Good, we're all here," he said seeing Wufei. "We're going to meet down in the conference room, so I suggest you start moving that way."

"Ja," the black haired girl said sticking her head in, "geht dahin!"

_Stupid people, speaking stupid languages that I don't understand!_ Wufei thought as he walked down the hall. It didn't seem to bother anyone else, but it really irked Wufei.

Once everyone was settled, (Heero sat at the head of the table next to the mystery girl, and Duo stood in the back behind Wufei. Everyone else was where they felt like being.) Heero began the briefing.

"Guys," He started, "I think we have a big problem to take care of."

"What kind of problem?" Quatre questioned.

"First of all, I should begin by telling you that Doctor J, Instructor H, Master O, Doctor S, and Professor G are still alive, and they may be up to something."

"But, they were blown up! What do you mean they're still alive?" Trowa asked, confused.

"They survived," Heero said in his usual emotionless way. "J, contacted me shortly after the original war ended. They wanted help relocating to an abandoned resource satellite. I agreed to help."

"Is that why you up and disappeared for 6 months?" Quatre interrupted to question.

"Yeah," Heero confirmed, avoiding everyone else's quizzing eyes. "They wanted their fate kept confidential. Naturally, I obliged. Shortly after the Mariemaia incident, they contacted me again. They wished to house the Gundams with them. I informed them that the Gundams had been destroyed, as they were no longer needed. They were not upset by this however, and simply stated that the Gundams could easily be rebuilt."

"Didn't that worry you at all?" Trowa questioned.

Heero responded in his same unemotional soldier voice. "Not at all, they told me they would contact me back with information, and they never did."

Wufei could hardly stand to listen to the stupidity. This was yet another incident that would be added to his list as to why Heero was incompetent. "Let me guess," he snapped sarcastically, "now you think you may have been wrong?"

"I know I was wrong." Heero remained unstirred. "That is where Jade comes in."

"And who is Jade?" Wufei sneered.

Laughter came from behind Wufei. As he turned around he saw Duo in hysterics. In between gasps for air Duo said, "You'll...never...believe...this..." After Heero shot Duo a dirty look, Duo calmed down.

"So who is she?" Wufei repeated.

"She's my sister."

"What!" everyone, with the exception of Duo, yelled.

"She also owns a zero chip." Heero continued, ignoring everyone's dismayed looks.

After recollecting himself Quatre questioned, "So she actually has a zero chip attached to her spine? I didn't think they were safe."

"They're not." Heero confirmed.

"Wait a second, what's a zero chip?" Trowa asked, regaining his self and slowing everyone down.

"I personally came across it with the plans for the Wing Zero," Quatre explained. "To the best of my knowledge, basically the zero chip is a small microchip attached to your spine, behind your shoulder blades. It basically acts as a built in Zero system."

"And J has the on/off switch." Heero finished explaining. "Right now it's on, and that means he's working with it again. He's up to something."

"So let's just remove the chip." Wufei suggested. It didn't seem like that big of a deal. Why would you need everyone's help for that?

"It's not that simple," Heero reminded him. "The chip literally fuses to the spine. Removing it could mean paralysis."

Even Wufei was stumped by the situation at hand. "So are we confronting the scientists?" he asked.

"Unfortunately," Heero sighed finally showing some flicker of emotion, "I think we'll have to."

A strong silence came over the group, as everyone was absorbed in their own thoughts.

"But why does **she** have the chip?" Duo finally asked, voicing most of the group's thoughts.

* * *

**  
**

"But why does **she** have the chip?" Heero heard Duo ask.

"Because, I'm better than him," Jade smiled, speaking up for the first time.

_Great, _Heero thought, _I guess it all comes out._ He looked across the room to the confused faces.

Duo's normally happy eyes stared at Jade in disbelief. Duo was probably the only person in the room who even believed the story so far. Heero didn't know how Duo had found out about his sister already, but he had his suspicions of Jade. He made a mental note to bring it up their next argument.

Trowa looked stony, like he was just taking everything in. Trowa's eyes meet Heero's in a questioning glaze, and for the first time ever, Heero had to break eye contact. There was something about Trowa's eyes today, like they already knew all of Heero's secrets. Heero had made it a point to hide his past from everyone, and even though it was necessary, Heero still wasn't sure how he felt about it all coming out.

Quatre's eyes were hardened in consideration. He still seemed to be pondering the zero chip. It was as if he couldn't wait to get to one of his lab's and begin research on the chip.

Wufei's eyes were the worst of all. His eyes were filled with hate, not for Heero, but for Jade. It was probably only because she was one more person for him to defeat in his quest to be the best, but somehow, Heero couldn't help but feel like he should get between Wufei and Jade, to protect her.

Heero started to look at Relena, but found he couldn't do it. He diverted his gaze back to Jade, who was still smiling a devious smile, but also currently in a staring contest with Wufei. Another glance at Wufei confirmed Heero's suspicion, that Wufei was giving his death glare.

"You're better than Heero?" Quatre asked, on a 10 second delay. Jade just nodded as Quatre turned to Heero.

"I guess I should explain," Heero started. He wanted to be the one that they would finally hear it from. Maybe then they would be more likely to believe him. Everyone around him nodded. "Well," he continued not really knowing where to start," Well I guess I'll start from the beginning. My parents died in 185. They were on their way back to Japan from the colonies. I was 5, and Jade was 3. Jade doesn't remember our parents, in the same way that I can't remember my name."

"How can you not remember your own name?" Wufei sneered.

"It's easy, Trowa will even tell you that. My parents always called me 'kiddo' from what I can remember. Jade always just called me 'bro'. Neither of us remember our last name either, 'Meka' is as fake as Yuy. Anyways, we traveled around for awhile, but times were really tough. We were both really young, and we couldn't survive together. So shortly after her 4th birthday, I left her at an orphanage."

"Wait this doesn't make sense," Duo interrupted, "You told me from the time you were 6 'til you were 8, you stayed with that Odin guy. After that you went through the whole Gundam thing. How could you possibly even remember Jade?"

"I can fill in his story gap here," Jade interjected. Heero nodded towards her to go ahead. "After bro here left me, I only stayed in the orphanage a few weeks." She laughed. "Honestly, I hardly even remember it. I remember one day some older boys of about 10, or so, were making fun of me. Me being me, I lost my temper and sent them to the hospital. Apparently, there were some visitors there that were impressed with my skills. That was how I met up with J, G, S, H, and O. I was the original pilot of Wing Zero, before the five of them split up. They designed the zero system around me."

"Around you?" Quatre questioned.

"Ja," Jade smiled. "But that's another story. We'll get to that later. So anyways, other than the fact that the five scientists split and I went with J, Heero can take back over from here."

Heero nodded to her and continued. "Basically, this all happened while I was training with Odin. After he died, when I was 8, I wandered for a week or two, before I ran into J. Having nothing better to do, I went with him. He was interested in me because of the training I had received from Odin. He was even more amused to learn that Jade, who was already working with him, and I were siblings."

"He was running a regular little orphanage, wasn't he?" Duo muttered under his breath, but no one noticed.

"So what happened?" Trowa asked urging him on.

"Basically, it's like she said. She was better than me. Originally I was just trained as an ordinary soldier. Jade was that pilot, I was just there to take orders, and commit murders. I was the knuckle dragger. It stayed that way too, at least until the end of 193. That's when Jade decided she couldn't stay."

"Why not?" Duo asked, "You had already gone that far."

"Easy," Jade replied without even flinching. "I wanted to feel! I told you the zero system was designed around me right?" There was a general nod from everyone. "Basically, the scientist's noticed that when I would fight, my brain activity was minimal. It was as if I wasn't thinking. This gave them the idea for the zero system. Of course they can't leave well enough alone, so someone, G, I think, got the bright idea to use the system on me, to boost my performance. The only problem was, since I already wouldn't think, the system had no effect on me. Then J, got the brilliant idea for the zero chip."

"But I thought the zero system had no effect on you. Wouldn't the chip be the same way?" Quatre questioned.

"No, the zero chip only doesn't affect me when I'm fighting. I don't think when I'm fighting, but on a day to day basis, the zero chip can drive you insane."

"Which is why they made the remote on/off switch," Heero supplied.

Jade nodded, "Exactly, because being the brilliant scientist's that they are they didn't realize this until after they had installed the chip."

"Did they force you, or did you agree to the chip?" someone asked, Heero wasn't really sure who.

"I decided to take it, but believe me if I had known the consequences, I wouldn't have. They told me it would help me stay focused, to not worry about myself during fights. I figured it would help me to focus my brain waves on anything that Iwanted. In reality the chip shuts down almost all of my nerves. Their definition of 'focused' was to make me unable to feel if I am wounded. It worked, but I hated it."

"So if the chip is back on, you can't feel anything?" Duo asked. He honestly looked troubled by this.

Jade kind of chuckled, as she pulled a pocket knife out of her boot. Heero watched Duo's eyes widen, as Jade slashed her arm without even flinching. There was a moment of silence, as everyone stared, and Jade removed her boots to gain access to her sock. "Exactly," Jade said breaking the silence, and starting to wrap up her arm with a piece of her sock. "J, eventually just kept leaving the chip on, making life for me unbearable. I'm lucky it's only pulsing now, at least I have some time when I can feel normal." She looked down at her arm, "The next time it pulses off, this is going to hurt like hell." A pause. "But, anyways, bro here eventually helped me fake a terrible accident during a training session in space. I then escaped to earth."

"To the best of my knowledge J still thinks she's dead," Heero finished. There was a long pause as everyone seemed to be taking in what they had heard. Suddenly Duo, the clown that he was, started laughing. Heero shot him a glare. This was a serious matter!

"I'm sorry Heero," Duo continued laughing. "I believe everything, I'm just having trouble believing that Jade is your sister."

"What's so unbelievable about that?" Heero snapped.

"Nothing," Duo smiled. It was then that Heero realized what was coming. Another of Duo's 'your momma' jokes. "I just can't believe your momma didn't tell me about this when I was **with** her last night." Heero opened his mouth to threaten Duo's life, but Jade beat him to the punch.

"Yeah, she told me about that, said it was the shortest 2 seconds of her life." Leave it to Jade to have a comeback for Duo. Heero felt himself shake his head.

"Do you mind?" Wufei snapped. "I want this over with. When do we leave for this research thing?"

Heero started to open his mouth, but Jade was faster, yet again. "Right after a quick trip to Germany. We have to pick up a friend of mine, Odin Lowe."

Heero snapped his head in her direction. "Odin? Wait, my Odin?"

"Yep, I met up with him about a year ago."

* * *

**Author's note:** No reviews in the last 3 chapters at all? Is it that bad? Give me some sort of feedback! I'm happy with the number of hits, but what do you all think?

Andy


	5. Stille Nacht

**Chapter 5: Stille Nacht**

"Odin!" Jade greeted the man back at her apartment, in Germany, a stupid smile plastered to her face. Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, and Relena all stood behind her.

The old man just stood there, staring at everyone. "You took long enough," he mumbled, finally turning around and walking into the living room, so that everyone could fit in. "I wouldn't have thought it would take you a month to find him."

As everyone sat down, Jade jumped up and down a few times, before attacking Odin with a hug, from behind. Odin did not seem happy with this. In fact, if looks could kill, he would definitely have given Wufei a run for his money.

"You know," he grumbled, "for being the ultimate fighter, you sure do go through a lot of mood changes. Your brother definitely has you beat at a poker face. Besides, I thought you said you wanted to kill me before you left."

"Eh," Jade shrugged, letting go of the old man, "like you said before, mood swings."

"So where is your brother?" Odin asked. Heero wished at that moment that he could disappear into the wall. He hadn't realized 'til this moment exactly how awkward it would be to see Odin again.

Jade just rolled her eyes and pointed him out. "He's right behind you. I swear you're going blind old man." Odin shot her another death glare, before turning towards Heero, looking eager.

"So kid, how ya doin'?" he asked. Heero just glanced at him, before turning his head away. Why couldn't he answer him? Maybe because this man left him for dead? Maybe because this man had deceived him into thinking that he died? Heero felt a sudden sympathy for how J would feel.

"Well you don't have to be like that." Odin paused and looked at him. "I heard you picked up a name finally."

"I think I'm going to find some food," Jade commented, heading towards the back of the apartment. "Anyone want to come with?"

"I'm always up for food," Duo smiled, following Jade into what Heero assumed was the kitchen, with Trowa and Quatre not far behind. Wufei, amazingly, was sleeping already in an armchair, and Relena stayed, looking like if she dared move, she would get dirty and die.

"So what if I did?" Heero challenged gathering all his strength to talk to the old man. He was the trained soldier after all, this shouldn't be that hard.

"Kid, you take things to seriously." Odin pressed. "Honestly, what harm could it do?" There was a pause.

"I thought you died."

"That makes two of us." Heero just stared at him. The old man sighed and continued, "Apparently, I only passed out. I didn't actually die. You, being you, blew up the building. I woke up a week later in the hospital, a John Doe civilian. By the time I got out, you were long gone. I always figured you had settled down at a normal school, in a normal life. It didn't even occur to me otherwise until the war started, and the Gundam's pictures were everywhere."

"Hmpf," Heero exhaled. It was hard, even for him, to be mad at a guy who never directly lied to him.

"Hey Heero, your sis-ta wants to know if you want an omelet," Duo called from the kitchen door, "Oh, and 'that priss of a girlfriend' too." Duo imitated Jade's mannerisms.

"Sure, whatever," Heero said, never breaking eye contact with Odin.

Heero made sure that Odin was receiving the full blast of his icy gaze. Odin had been the one that taught Heero never to trust anyone but himself. Odin would be disappointed if Heero were to believe him that easy, and Heero knew it. "So,_ Heero_, what's your name?"

Heero continued to stare, but Odin stared back this time. Heero became more annoyed, finally growled and spit out his answer. "Heero Yuy."

Surprised, Odin laughed. "A little ironic."

"I guess," Heero shrugged. They both sat there looking at each other, with Relena looking confused in the background, until Jade came in juggling four plates. Duo followed with two, and Quatre and Trowa with one each.

Duo kicked Wufei awake. Wufei was about to kill, until he saw food. "You got lucky, Maxwell," he mumbled.

Jade, smiling, handed Relena a plate. "Duo said you don't like mushrooms, so I left them out," Jade said. Relena just glared at her. It might have come from temporarily being taken hostage, but Relena did not like Jade.

Jade handed Heero a plate as well. "You got everything, with extra hot sauce." Heero looked at her surprised. "Of course I remember you have a stomach of steel. Even I couldn't handle all that."

Heero laughed a little, without cracking a smile. "Thanks," he nodded.

Finally, Jade handed the last plate to Odin. "And you get everything like it or not."

Odin made a face as she sat down. "You put onions in it didn't you?"

Uncaring, Jade said, "You're not allergic, pick them out." Odin pouted as everyone ate. That man brought disgust to Heero's stomach.

After everyone had eaten, Jade and Duo took the dishes back to the kitchen. Wufei, Odin, Trowa, and Quatre all dispersed to other, various rooms. This left Heero and Relena alone together.

Heero could feel Relena's eyes on him, but just couldn't bring himself to look at her. So, he ignored her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Tell you what?"

"About your sister!"

"Why should I have told you about her? There's nothing to tell." Heero could feel an argument brewing.

"How can you say that there's nothing to tell, when you have a sister!"

"It's not a big deal. You have a brother. There's no difference."

"But you knew about him. And you know what, all that aside, I still can't believe you didn't tell ME!"

"I case you hadn't noticed, I didn't tell anyone. Don't take it so personally." Relena was catching an edge with Heero. She needed to stop now, or she might just drive him to far.

Relena wouldn't take this as an answer. "All **that** aside, what about Odin? Duo seemed to know enough about him. Yet you never told me. Apparently, I don't have 'authorization' to know about your classified life!"

The normally calm Heero felt anger boil up on him. What right did she have? "In case you didn't notice 'princess' I don't owe you anything! We are just 'friends' nothing more! And unlike everyone else around you, I don't take orders. I don't care what you think!" With that, Heero stormed across the room, and out to the balcony.

Outside, the night air was cold. The cold felt good. I would help him clear his head. Heero slightly shivered, and looked up at the stars. He thought about what he would be doing right now, if Jade hadn't come back. More than likely sleeping. Relena wouldn't be mad at him, and he would still be sleeping. He wondered, _If the war is over, than why are things still so complicated?_

The night was silent, and refused to answer his question.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, both Jade and Duo were laughing hysterically. They had just finished having a soapy water fight, as they both argued over who would actually do the dishes. Jade was wet, but Duo was soaked to the bone. It was easy to see who had won the water part of the fight.

Laughing Duo finally gave in, "Mercy, uncle, and all that stuff!"

Still laughing, Jade set down the spray nozzle. "I am still the champ!"

"Only 'cause you cheated," Duo huffed. "If I had-had a water gun, I would have stood a fighting chance."

"Fat chance," Jade mumbled. She now had a strait face, but the tease definitely showed through in her voice.

A smirk came over Duo. "You really need to smile more," he said, before tickling her in a surprise attack.

"Stop!" she giggled falling over on the floor. The chip must have been off for as hard as she was laughing.

"Not 'til you admit that I am really the champ!"

"Not a chance," Jade coughed. Reaching up, and still laughing she grabbed the first thing she could reach. Duo's braid. She yanked and Duo fell down, laughing, next to Jade.

"Hey," he whined, "braid's off limits."

"Rule #1," Jade said, "everything goes."

"Oh really?" he asked reaching to tickle her again. They were both rolling in hysterics on the floor when a harsh voice came out of no where.

"What the hell is going on here Maxwell?"

* * *

**Author's note:** First off, thanks for the reviews. I have some free time at the moment, so I might put out a few chapters. It's nice only having to revise these ones. For anyone that had read this story before, you may have noticed that I've added a few scenes. I think they enhance the story. But let me know what you think. This will also serve as my final warning… I am putting out a lot of chapters at the moment since I'm just revising, including multiple ones each day. However, once I reach the mid point (I'll let you know when) where I haven't got anything written yet, then the chapter will slow down. Not stop, but slow down yes. Well thanks again and R&R. 


	6. ReOpened Wounds

**Chapter 6: Re-opened wounds**

"What the hell is going on here Maxwell?"

Duo's heart stopped as he looked up half expecting Heero to be in the door. Just what he would need. _Stupid over-protective Heero ready to kill me for having some fun. _Duo was surprised to see Odin standing in the door.

"What's it to you?" Duo asked getting off the floor. He was brave now that he knew it wasn't Heero.

Odin just laughed as Jade also tried to get up off the floor. "If only your brother could see his 'innocent' little sister now." Duo did not like the way Odin was talking to Jade.

Duo glared at Odin. He wanted to hurt him, but not before the time was right. Odin was in control, he had caught Duo and Jade on the run. Well, Duo at least.

Jade seemed to think that she was in control however, and she was. In the blink of an eye Jade had ran over and slammed him against the wall her left arm braced against his throat, choking him. "Get one thing strait," she spat in his face, "My brother is not to be bothered with my doings. Understand?"

"Jade," Odin coughed grabbing at her arm, "You're chok..."

"Do you understand?" she yelled slamming him against the wall again. Jade was a bad ass, that much was obvious

Odin sputtered and nodded.

"What's going on here?" Heero's voice came from the doorway. Jade dropped Odin and turned around smiling. Odin stood behind her rubbing his neck and gasping for air.

"Nothing at all," Jade said. Turning to Odin, "Right?"

Odin nodded. He was a tough man, of course he wasn't going to admit he was beaten by a girl. "Right."

Duo was greatly amused by these events as Odin turned to head towards the door. Still, what Jade had just done kind of scared him. It was odd to think that she could turn on someone that she was close to that fast, in the promotion of self interest.

After Odin had cleared the room, Heero stormed up to Jade. "What were you doing?" he demanded.

"Nothing," she shrugged. She really was acting as if nothing had happened.

"Nothing my ass! I saw that you had him in a choke hold. I'm not stupid! Now, what were you doing?"

"It was a little fun. We were just playing around. Odin was never in any danger." Jade patted Heero on the shoulder. "You don't have to worry. Your poor old daddy is okay."

Heero grabbed her left hand off of his shoulder and gave it a firm, bone-breaking squeeze. "In case you've forgotten, we're not here to have fun. We came here to save your ass, and if you're not going to take this seriously we can all leave."

"Let go of my hand," she spat back at him, a fire burning in her stone cold eyes.

"No, not until..."

"In case **you've** forgotten I can still kick your ass!"

"You only think you can little sister, but I have more experience than you, and I will win."

Jade struggled with Heero a moment before he let her go saying, "The choice is yours."

Fuming, Jade stood there for a moment in silence. Finally, she punched her brother in the face, and stormed out. Amazing how some families solved their problems.

Stunned, Duo made a move to follow her, but Heero stepped in his way. "I told you to stay away from my sister." Duo just glared at him, "I wasn't joking, if I see you near her running your game again, I will kill you."

Duo felt some anger boiling up in him. Heero was Heero, but to go as far as telling him whom he could talk to! Sister or not, Duo had done nothing to deserve this. To top it off, Heero kept rambling about how Duo was playing some "game" with girls. It was all just down right insulting. It was for these reasons that Duo's normally happy face turned stony as he moved in closer to Heero and said, "I'd like to see you try," before walking out the kitchen door.

Entering the living room, Duo noticed that Relena and Wufei were intent in conversation. He sat down and turned to the T.V. with every intent to ignoring them.

"Honestly," Relena's voice came, "I'm starting to think this is stupid."

"I always knew it was stupid," Wufei sneered.

Apparently, Duo's presence in the room, did not hinder their current conversation as Relena continued, "I hate him sometimes."

"I hate him all the time."

Relena laughed. "No you don't. You just like to pretend you do. Honestly, you would be really upset if Heero was to die."

_Great_, Duo thought, _everyone's obsessed with Heero._

"What would you know about hate? You're just a pacifist!"

"I know that I hate Jade. That's proof enough for me."

Relena's comment left disgust in Duo's mouth. There was nothing about Jade to HATE.

"Wow, Relena, aggressive. Still you're just angry. Your Barbie-like head couldn't hate, even if you wanted to."

"Call it what you want, but she had better stay away from me." There was pure scorn in Relena's voice.

"Man, remind me not to take you hostage. Apparently, you take it personally."

"Of course I do! But it's not even just that."

"What then?"

"I don't know, Heero is just weird around her."

_Hardly, _Duo thought, _If anything the guy is closer to being his normal self now. _Duo may have been mad at Heero, but he couldn't lie, not even to himself. Heero had been acting plain weird this past year.

This conversation was boring Duo, so he was glad when the doorbell rang. Thinking it was one of Jade's German friends, Duo went to answer the door hoping he could use his new German phrase to tell them all that he couldn't speak German.

Instead, Duo was greeted by the infamous Sally Poe. "Hey there Duo," she greeted.

"Sally! What are you doing here?"

"Heero called and told me some odd story about his sister. Can you believe it? Anyways, he asked me to meet him here, because my medical expertise may be needed. So anyways, is the girl around?"

"Yeah, she's in the back somewhere. Come on, I'll show ya." Sally followed Duo into the apartment. As they passed through the living room, Duo noticed the uneasy glances between the Wu-man and Sally. Once in the hallway, and out of earshot, he asked her, "So have you guys talked since your big fight the other week?"

"No," Sally shook her head, "It's stupid really. I would have thought we would make it through this, but obviously one stupid fight was all it took. I kept trying to call him to apologize even, but he just won't answer to me. It's like I don't exist to him anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Duo said with a real frown on his face, "Anyways, here we are." Duo motioned Sally into the bedroom/weight training room, where Jade was beating the crap out of a boxing bag.

"So this is where you are," Duo commented as Jade finally noticed that they had come in.

"Yeah," she replied, "I just needed to blow off some steam." She shot a glance at Sally, like she wasn't sure whether to attack her, or shake her hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Duo said. "This is Sally Poe. Heero, apparently called her to be our resident medic on this here journey."

Sally extended her hand, "Nice to meet you."

"Same," Jade said returning the handshake. It was then that Duo noticed the blood soaking through her long shirt sleeve. Sally noticed as well.

"What happened?" she asked.

Jade looked down at her arm, surprised. She sincerely looked like she had just noticed. "It's a fairly new cut," Jade explained, "I hade taken care of it, but it must have opened back up, while I was working out without me noticing."

Sally rolled up Jade's sleeve to look at the cut better. Duo recognized it as the self-inflicted knife wound. "That's a pretty deep cut to not notice," Sally commented.

"So is the chip on again?" Duo asked ignoring the fact that Sally had just spoken. He was honestly worried about Jade. This was the first time he was able to see the real danger in the zero chip. Jade was bleeding pretty badly, and if he hadn't notice, who knows how much blood she could have lost.

"I guess it must have switched on for a bit," Jade nodded. "I can feel it now that I'm calmed down. If you hadn't of come in, I probably wouldn't have noticed."

"Here," Sally said breaking the silence and taking over, "talk later, but for now, just let me fix that up again."


	7. Like a Drug

**Chapter 7: Like a Drug**

Jade loudly exhaled in the cockpit of the _Winged Angel._ The _Winged Angel _was a big spaceship/cruiser the Preventors had sent, that the gang was taking to the L2 colony cluster.

There they planed on setting up a base of operations. They could then begin the work of figuring out what the scientist's were up to. But, Jade didn't care about any of this now.

At the moment Jade had a splitting head-ache, and her arm had been throbbing since the wound had re-opened the day before.

She closed her eyes blocking out the blinding light, and hoped desperately that the chip would turn on soon, just so the pain would stop. This is what she desperately hated about the chip. It drove you crazy when it was on, but slowly it seemed to become worse when it was off. It was like a drug. Jade hadn't dealt with the chip being off that often when she was still with J. He would only turn it off to remind her of the good it did her when it was on, how she still needed him.

She shuddered remembering the first few months after she had left J. First had come the head-aches, then the violent shaking, and finally her near brush with death. But she had survived, and after lying in a hospital bed for weeks, and dealing with the grief of having no one, she had begun to make a life for herself.

Jade gulped back tears as the pain in her head continued. It was hard to believe that the pain had increased this much in one day. At this time yesterday the dull throb had been easily thrown from her mind when she had been messing around with Duo. But no, today was bad, which was why Jade was sitting alone in the cockpit with her brother, whom she knew wouldn't bother her.

A sigh of relief escaped from Jade's lips as she felt the chip switch back on. She had never been happier. "What's wrong with you?" she heard her brother ask her.

"Nothing," Jade answered him with a cocky smile. She had never told anyone about the "withdrawals", that was between her and J, and she wanted to keep it that way.

"If you say so," he shrugged. Another thing about her brother she liked, he would drop the topic and leave it alone. It was nice to have him around again. "I am glad to see you though," he continued, referring to her first showing up.

"Maybe, but you sure have a funny way of showing it. You know, yelling at me and all."

"You know it was nothing personal."

Jade shook her head, "Of course it was personal. I remember you telling me how I was stupid, had always been stupid, and would always be stupid."

"I didn't mean any of it. I was just scared you would be found. I don't think I could lose you three times."

"I'm sure," Jade said showing indifference. She got up and walked to the door.

"So you don't believe me then?"

Jade turned back to face him, "It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that I don't care. It doesn't keep me up at night." With that she turned and walked out of the door into the hallway.

She shuddered, trying to wipe off all of the sentimentality. She would have much rather her brother be the heartless soldier, that Sally had described for her the night before, than the over-protective older brother he was in there. It just didn't seem natural of him. As a family Jade and Heero had never been sentimental towards each other. Hell, she had punched him before when he got her mad! Even when they were kids Heero had been pretty much indifferent to her feelings. The only thing that had held the two together had been the strong bond that two siblings had.

Jade continued walking down the hallway. She was heading down to the mini-gym. Along the way she passed Duo, and flashed him a quick smile when he waved to her.

Walking into the mini-gym, Jade realized that she wasn't the only one who had taken this time to exercise. Wufei was also present.

"Good Afternoon," she greeted him. All she got in return was a pissed glare.

Jade didn't worry about it though, she wasn't about to let some stupid man ruin her day. So, she jumped on a treadmill and began to run. Running was mindless and one of her favorite activities.

However, after about 5 minutes Jade had become bored and her mind began to wander. She started watching Wufei and she worked out with the hanging body bag. He had skills, that was evident, but something just didn't seem right. There was a weakness staring her strait in the face, if she could only figure it out.

After watching him for a few moments more, it dawned of her. He was over-exerting himself on every move. Most people wouldn't be able to stand this repetitively(which said something for him), and although he was withstanding it, she could see from the look in his eyed that it would hurt him later, even if he wouldn't tell anyone.

Jade watched him a few more minutes, and finally found it impossible to keep her mouth shut. "You're going to hurt later if you don't stop over-exerting yourself like that."

"Who asked you?" Wufei sneered at her continuing on with his work out.

"No one," Jade shrugged still running, "I just though you might like some advice."

"Why would I want advice from some stupid little girl?"

"I'm hardly a 'little' girl, or maybe you just hadn't noticed." Jade watched as his eyes flicked to her chest, and then he turned away blushing furiously. "That's what I thought," Jade laughed.

This last comment seemed to add insult to injury for Wufei, because he stopped what he was doing and stormed over to Jade's treadmill to confront her. "Look I only just met you, and I'm sick of you already. I'm tired of seeing your face, and I am fed up with everyone talking about how strong you are. As if you would ever be able to deal with what we went through in the war. You nailed out, and in my eyes that makes you a weak little girl. So why don't you just go play with some dolls or something."

Jade laughed and never stopped running. "Normally, I would get upset over what you just said, but I understand that you're upset because you know I could kick your ass, so just this once I'll let it go."

"Don't, because I meant everything I said."

"You don't want to fight me."

"And what if I do?" he challenged.

Jade stopped the treadmill, got off, and went to stand in front of him. "Then make your move."

They both stood there staring at each other, in a standoff, for a few seconds. Then Wufei lifted his right arm and punched her across the left side of her face. Jade had to control herself so she wouldn't laugh. The hit didn't even sting. The chip was on, not that he knew it.

Jade swung back at him, and soon they were in a hand to hand fight. Punching, kicking, tripping, jumping, everything went.

Neither of the two could seem to get the upper hand, although Jade did see him wince at a few of her punches. Wufei used an uppercut punch to the jaw to send her flying backwards, but as soon as she regained her balance she round house kicked him in the gut, sending him backwards this time.

Jade felt the chip switch off as she suddenly realized how much her jaw hurt. _What the hell?_ she thought. _It hasn't even been an hour. I normally get a good day and a half out of it! But oh well. _She continued on with the fight.

Wufei jumped up on the balance beam, and Jade followed. He wanted to test her footing, and she was game. They went at it for awhile more, one blow after another. Wufei would kick Jade, and she would land a punch on him.

Suddenly, just as Jade was planting her feet on the beam she realized something wasn't right. _Oh no, _she thought as she felt her legs wobble. She looked at Wufei desperately before she fell off the beam hitting her head on the floor, shaking violently.

_Shit,_ was the last thing that passed through her mind before she passed out.


	8. Let's keep it that way

**Chapter 8:Let's keep it that way!**

Jade felt herself drifting back into consciousness, as if waking up from a long sleep. There was shuffling. Papers? Footsteps growing softer, and finally a door closing.

Jade didn't want to get up, not really, but she knew she had to. The longer she was down, the more likely people were to worry and figure out her problem. She counted to three and opened her eyes, but quickly squeezed them back shut to block out the blinding light. The next around time she took her time opening her eyes.

Still adjusting to the light, Jade began to look around. By the looks of the medical supplies, she was in the ship's infirmary. She shivered, the chip was still off, but thankfully she had stopped shaking. Was the air conditioning on full blast in this room? Rubbing her arms she realized that she was only in her tank top, her sweatshirt was missing.

Jade sat up and saw her sweatshirt sitting on the chair next to the bed. She climbed out of the bed, glad there were no IVs to pull out, and pulled her sweatshirt on. As she was finishing Sally walked into the room.

"Glad to see you up," she smiled.

Jade chuckled, Sally had a way of making her feel more at ease. She was discreet having worked with the Gundam pilots for years. "Aren't you supposed to be telling me to take it easy?"

"I would, but I figure you take after Heero in more than one way."

"You would be right."

Sally smiled at Jade and picked up a clipboard. "Well, I guess I should give you the run down. You hit your head pretty hard when you fell. I did a scan though and you don't appear to have a concussion, but you will have one hell of a head-ache."

Jade couldn't help but laugh. "I already had that."

Ignoring Jade's comment, Sally continued, "I haven't figured out what caused the seizure yet, but based on your reaction to all of this, I can assume that you know." Jade nodded her head. "Mind filling me in?"

"It's nothing, just another stupid side effect of having this stupid chip in my head."

"Funny, no one briefed me on this. I am the doctor, it seems like I should know."

"Well, that may be because no body else knows. I can handle it. Don't worry."

"I wouldn't be so su..."

"So how long was I out?"

Sally glance at her watch, "About 2 hours."

Jade winced, that was a fairly long time. Heero could already know by now and that would be a bad bad thing. "Did you tell my brother yet?"

Sally shook her head, "It's a pretty big ship. I haven't found him yet."

"Well, let's keep it that way."

"Why?"

"Because he doesn't know yet, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"But, what about Wufei? I mean he brought you here. He's going to want to know what happened."

"I don't really care what you tell him, just as long as we are _clear_ that Heero does not find out."

"But, why?"

Jade walked over to the door, "He doesn't need to worry about something that I've got handled."

"But he never worries about anything."

"Let's keep it that way."

"But I don't think..."

Jade opened the door, "This is the part where you tell me to 'take it easy'."

Sally stood silent, then nodded, "Take it easy."

Done with that, Jade walked down the hall with no where to really go. In one hallway she passed Wufei who gave her a look of surprise, and what else was it? Pity?

"What the hell are you looking at Wuffles?" she shot at him as she passed by. The last thing she needed was his pity!

QQQ

Trowa was standing in Conference Room B looking at a map laid out on the table when Heero walked in.

"Have you figured out where they are yet?" Heero asked glancing at the map.

Trowa shook his head. He had been working on this project all day, and although he was closer than when he started, he couldn't pin-point a location. "I've narrowed it down to within a 25 mile radius of the capital of the L2 colony cluster," he explained. "Once we get there we can try running a scan to get an exact location, but the chances are slim. More than likely they will be running some sort of interference."

Heero nodded as he walked over to the window and glanced out into space. Trowa walked over to join him. There was something else that was bugging Trowa. "Heero, do you think that they could possibly start another war?"

"Anything is possible," Heero shortly replied.

"What could they be doing?"

A slight sigh was heard from Heero, although his face remained unchanged. "My first guess would be that they've built at least one more Gundam and have at least one new kid with a zero chip to pilot it. Neither of which is good."

"Yeah, the sooner we get to work the better. When are we scheduled to arrive?"

"Around 8 tomorrow morning."

"Great, and it's only 4 o'clock now. We haven't even had dinner yet."

QQQ

"Checkin' my e-mail, checkin' my e-mail, check, check, check, check, checking my e-mail," Duo sung to himself as he logged onto the computer.

Opening his e-mail account up, he laughed some more. "I've got mail." 4 new messages. This was all he got after being off for days.

He opened the first message and laughed. It was from his physics teacher, Dr. Kelling.

**Mr. Maxwell,**

**I understand that you are friends with the college president, but if you would be so kind as to show up to my class this year. Call it a personal favor, as I don't want to have you in my class, yet again, next year.**

**-Dr. Kelling, Professor of Physics, Peacecraft College**

_The nerve of the guy. _Duo thought, _School hasn't even started yet. Does he actually think I like his class that much? Jezze, just because I've taken it twice already!_

Duo clicked on the second e-mail and found an ad. Deleting it, he moved on to the third e-mail. It was from his friend, Keith, whom he use to run with in the street gang as a kid. Keith had recently been down to earth to visit Duo. It was only about a week ago that he left, although to Duo that seemed like a year ago.

**Hey there just dropping ya a line to let ya know I got back okay. Steve's still upset that he couldn't make it down to see you. Anyways gots ta go.**

**Lata,**  
**K.**

Duo checked the date on the e-mail. It was sent on the 3rd. The same say that Jade came around. Wow it really had been a long time since he had signed on.

Finally, Duo clicked on the 4th e-mail, which was from Hilde, and sent today.

**Hey Duo, where are you?**

**I tried to call your place earlier but you weren't there. Your roommate, Fred, said that you left a couple of days ago in a hurry. Just packed your bags, and left. Duo is something wrong? Should I worry? That really isn't like you. You may just be at a friends place, I don't know. I tried calling Heero, Relena, and Quatre but all I got was voicemails on all accounts. Anyways, I hope you're okay. Just contact me ya know.**

**Hilde**

**P.S. Max sends his regards.**

Duo laughed, "Max sends his regards. Yep that sounds like him."

Duo then typed her back a quick e-mail. He wrote that he had decided to take a quick world tour before school started, and apologized for worrying her. He hadn't lied, after all he had been to Germany, and was currently heading to the colonies. She didn't need all the details, there was nothing she could do anyways. Duo wasn't even sure if there was anything he could do.


	9. Closer than you'd think

**Chapter 9: Closer than you'd think**

By 10 o'clock that night, everyone was exhausted. The last few days had been rough, and now only Heero, Duo, and Jade were left up in the lounge area watching movies.

The movie was boring, one Duo had picked, and to be honest perfectly predictable. Heero glanced back and forth between the other two members of the room.

Duo was sitting strait up like a little kid, with what appeared to be a permanent, stupid grin plastered to his face. Jade on the other hand seemed to be in a bad mood. Jade sat leaned back in her chair, looking as if the next person to laugh at a cheesy punch line would die a very painful death. Fire burned in her eyes.

Heero turned back to the movie, mentally rolling his eyes. A few minutes later Jade got up, "I'm taking a shower and turning in for the night."

Heero nodded to her and turned back to the movie, but his stupid friend Duo just couldn't do the same. "But this is the best part," Duo whined, "and the movies almost over. You can't leave yet."

Jade was already halfway through the door. "Duo trust me, I've already seen this movie about a million times, und es ist besser auf deutsch!"

Sticking his lip out Duo mumbled, "Not fair insulting me in languages that I don't know."

"Good night Duo," Jades voice came as the door clicked shut. Heero stood up as well and headed for the door.

"Are you leaving me too?" Heero just gave him a look, and walked out the door. "Fine, the more movie for me."

Heero snorted as he walked down the hallway towards his room. He was antsy and wanted to get to the colony soon. This waiting was driving him nuts.

Hearing a noise, he stopped. He was outside of Relena's room, and she stood in the doorway.

"Can I talk to you?" she repeated. Heero nodded his head and followed her into her room. "I wanted to let you know I'm sorry for yesterday. I was way out of line." Heero just looked at her, not exactly sure how to take her or the situation. "I know that your past is a touchy area, but I got upset because I had thought we were closer than that."

"I never told anyone about Jade, Relena. And Odin, is just another screwed up part of my life that I didn't want to deal with."

Relena looked up at him with big doe eyes, "I just thought that you might be shutting me out again. We worked so hard to get around that." Heero reach down and put his arm around her. "Anyways, I'm really sorry." Relena said again.

Lifting her face up with his hand. Heero leaned over and kissed her forehead, telling her in his own way that it was okay. In his opinion Relena worried to much. He stood up and went back to the door. "Good night Lena," he said before he left.

* * *

Humming to herself, Jade stepped out of the shower, dripping wet. Normally she would have begun singing as well while she combed through her hair, and dried off, but not today.

As she stepped out of the shower, Jade nearly fell over. It wasn't because the floor was wet, though. It was because the shaking had started again.

Jade managed to remain calm. It wasn't as if she hadn't dealt with this before, it was just an annoyance to deal with. Soaking wet, she threw on the tank top and pajama pants she had brought with her. She would be okay, she just needed to take it one step at a time. She just needed to get back to her room without anyone noticing.

* * *

Duo let out a laugh to himself as the movie ended. The ending truly was the best part. It was just to bad that Heero and Jade had to miss it.

He got out of his chair and stretched. The clock on the wall read half past 10 and he guessed he should head to bed. After all, no one else was up, and he hadn't slept in like 38 hours.

He grabbed his glass off the coffee table, and started off towards the kitchen. Normally, he would have left it, but he didn't feel like arguing with Quatre. Duo's blond friend was always annoyed by Duo's personal habits, such as leaving glasses sitting around.

After putting his glass away, Duo grabbed a cookie and headed out of the kitchen, towards his room. Oddly enough, he stared at his feet most of the way there, not something he normally did, but there was some really interesting stains on his shoe. One was purple, and he had no idea where that came from. When he finally did look up, he saw Jade walking towards him.

Something about Jade didn't look right though. Jade's long black hair, which reach to the bottom of her shoulder blades was thrown everywhere and sopping wet. Her clothes weren't much better, so overall she looked like she needed a towel.

Jade's physical appearance wasn't what was really bothering him. The way she was walking held more truth. Jade was walking slowly, every step with an excessive amount of force. Her face was screwed up, and head tilted down, as if concentrating on one task, while ignoring another. She also seemed to be waiving and shaking as she walked.

Even before Duo looked into her eyes, he could tell that something was wrong. When Jade did look up at him, there was pain in her eyes. But, before Duo could ask what was wrong, she fell to the ground, shaking violently.

Panicked, Duo immediately ran to her side, and grabbing her by the shoulders asked, "Are you okay?"

It took awhile for Jade to respond, and when she did, it was through a clenched jaw. "Yes... I just... need to get back... to my room."

"Okay," Duo nodded, firmly grabbing her arm to help her up. It worried Duo that the shaking seemed to be getting worse. When he had first found her, she had been walking fine on her own, but now Jade could barley take a step without falling against him. Her room was only 3 doors down, but it took almost 5 minutes to get there.

As they entered her room, Jade walked a few steps, and plopped on the floor next to her bed, shaking. Duo had tried on the way, to get her to the infirmary, but Jade had clearly refused. Feeling that he had to do something, Duo handed her a pillow off of her bed. Jade gratefully accepted it, and smiled at him, clutching it to her stomach.

Duo stood there, not quite sure of what was going on, or what to do. "Is there anything you need?" he finally asked.

Jade looked at him, her eyes much softer that they had been a half hour earlier. "Just... don... don't leave me."

Duo nodded his head, and sat down next to her. He watched her for a few minutes, then spoke up, "What's going on?"

Jade bit her lip, looking as if she was heavily debating with herself. Finally, "Do... you promise... not to tell?"

"Tell who?"

"Anybody... but... especially... not Heero."

"Okay, but is there any special reason why?"

"Just that... I...I don't want him... to know."

"Alright, so what is it?"

Jade kind of sent him a pleading look, "Would you mind... if we... talk about this... after...it stops?" Duo nodded his head signaling that he understood. Jade gave him a weak smile.

"Come here," Duo said, patting the floor next to him. Jade kind of looked at him as if she wasn't sure what he was doing. "I'm serious, come here." Jade scooted over next to him, and he put his arm around her shoulders. Jade gave him a surprised look, but didn't move away. Duo just continued on with the conversation, ignoring her look, and the fact the she was still dripping wet, "So tell me about yourself."

"What... do you... want to know?"

"Start with the basics; age, personality, likes and dislikes."

Jade paused, "Well... I'm...16... My personality... is... kind of tomboy... I like long... walks on the beach." she laughed, the shaking was less severe now, "But really I like... Hats... Long hair... and t-shirts... all of which... I have a ton of." She paused again. Her speech was more normal now, and she didn't have to stop as often. "And as for dislikes... I guess I really don't like it when... I lose a fight."

Duo started laughing then, and so did Jade. The shaking had completely stopped, but Jade made no attempt to move away. In fact, Duo felt her relax in his arms. Her hands were messing around with the tail end of his braid, which was thrown over his shoulder. "So where did you grow up?" she asked.

"Believe it or not, in the exact colony we're going to."


	10. Annoyance and Suspicions

**Chapter 10: Annoyance and Suspicions**

"Where are we going?" Trowa heard Jade ask. They had landed on the L2 colony not even 10 minutes before, and now the group was speeding, in 2 limos, towards the Winner Estates. The first limo contained Heero, Wufei, Duo, Odin, and Relena, while the second Limo carried Trowa, Quatre, Jade, and Sally.

Quatre spoke up to answer Jade. "We're going to stay at one of my family's houses."

Jade nodded her head, taking it in. "Is there going to be enough room for all of us?"

Trowa couldn't help but laugh. "There's probably enough room for each of us to have our own wing!"

"Hardly," Quatre huffed. He hated when people laughed because he had money and Trowa knew it. Still, Trowa would tease Quatre just to get a rise some days.

Jade didn't know this though, and was thus confused. Noticing this, Trowa went on to explain. "You've heard of the Winner Family Fortune, right?" he asked.

Jade rolled her eyes, "It's huge! Who hasn't?"

"Well, let's just say that you're sitting next to the current owner of said fortune."

Quatre shot daggers at Trowa, but laughed when Jade moved toward him saying, "Hi, my name is Jade. I like good books, evenings by the fireplace, long walks on the beach in the moonlight, and hopefully you."

It was Sally's turn to roll her eyes as the rest of the car burst into hysterics. "I guess, I can't take you guys anywhere."

* * *

The first limo was not as happy. In fact, it was dead silent, which annoyed Heero very badly. 

Occasionally, Odin and Relena would strike up conversation, but that also left Heero nervous feeling, not that he would show it.

Wufei was looking nervous about something though, and Duo looked dead to the world. For a happy guy like that, he sure wasn't a morning person. But overall things were fairly normal, or so Heero thought.

After a few minutes had passed, Wufei seemed to be growing more agitated. Finally, he burst out, "Heero I have to tell you something."

The car went silent once more, but Heero nodded for Wufei to continue.

"Look Heero, it's about your sister. You see,…well, yesterday I was in the gym and she well..."

"Oh, I heard about that!" Duo interrupted, sitting strait up.

"Heard what?" Heero asked snapping his head in Duo's direction. This whole thing was suspicious. What had happened that Heero hadn't heard about?

"Well, Jade told me that yesterday when she was sparring with Wufei she lost her balance on the balance beam. She hit her head pretty hard and had to go down and visit Sally. She made me swear not to tell anyone because she didn't want you to find out about it. She was afraid that you would think she had gotten weak. But I guess the cat's outta the bag now, isn't it Wufei?" With the end of this, Duo shot a pressing look at Wufei.

Heero glanced over at a torn looking Wufei. "Yeah it is," Wufei nodded.

"Jade can take care of herself, don't worry. She's probably just getting back into the swing of things. She's been out of the game for awhile too ya know." Odin reassured Heero, after which the cabin went silent, yet again.

Glancing out the window, Heero stopped when he saw Duo messing with the end of his braid. The story had made sense, but despite Duo's vow to never tell a lie, whenever Duo "stretched the truth" he always messed with the tail of his braid. There was defiantly more here than was being said.

* * *

A few hours later, Duo sat in the living room, keeping an eye on Wufei. Duo was honestly baffled as to why Wufei was trying to sell Jade out. Wufei was normally such a "keep to yourself" type of guy. It would seem more likely that he wouldn't tell Heero anything, and instead secretly laugh at him for not knowing. It didn't really make sense as to why he would want to tell anybody anything. 

Duo's thoughts were interrupted by the jingle on his cell phone.

Glancing down, he saw the caller ID said "Steve" and decided to pick up. " 'ello."

"Hey Duo, it's Steve."

"That is what the caller ID said."

"Be that way then! Jeeze! Anyways, I just called to see if Keith sent on the message that I was sorry I couldn't make it down to see you."

"Yeah, he did, but I just picked up the e-mail yesterday."

"I tried calling you yesterday, but you never answered."

"Yeah, well, I was in transit and my phone was off. You know how it is."

"Yeah, I do. So you're in the colonies then? Visiting Hilde? Which colony are you at?"

"Whoa, slow down!" Duo warned Steve, who was starting to rush ahead of himself. "Yes, I am in the colonies. No, I am not visiting Hilde, and I'm currently in the L2 capital, same as you."

"Duo that's awesome! But why come back? I thought you said you hated it here!"

"Don't get me wrong, I do, but my friend Quatre offered to let me stay at his place along with a few other people. I guess you could call it the last 'summer bash' before school starts." Duo wondered what Steve would think if he knew exactly what a "bash" this could turn out to be.

"Well, if you're not having too much fun tonight, swing by my place. I'll be having a party."

"Sounds cool, I'll see if I can make it."

"I hope you can. Meanwhile, you should check out the Maxwell Church Monument. They just unveiled it last week, and I think you might want to go see it."

"Well, I'll see." Duo said, a little more than annoyed. He probably would go check out the monument, but the fact that Steve felt the need to remind him, after having already told him about 50 times within the last month really did annoy him. Also the fact that Steve probably hadn't even thought about Duo until people started talking about the Maxwell Church again.

Just as he finished talking, Jade strolled into the room. Walking behind him she leaned over the couch and asked, "Hey, you grew up here, is there anything worth doing on this colony?"

Before he could answer her though, Steve was talking again. "Hey, who is that? Sounds like a girl! Duo you stud. She sounds hot! Is she taken? Can I have her?"

Duo motioned to Jade to hold on a second, then answered Steve. "No, and no. Look I have to go so maybe I'll see you later."

"...but..."

"Good bye," Duo said hanging up. Then turning to Jade, "Of course, let's go!"

* * *

Trowa knocked on Heero's door. Following the order of "Enter", he walked in. 

Inside, Heero sat crossed legged on his bed, arms also crossed, meditating. Well, or sleeping...sorta. As Trowa stepped into the room, Heero did him the honor of at least opening one of his eyes to see who had entered.

"Just figured I'd let you know," Trowa started, "I ran that scan. As we figured, it picked nothing up." Heero sat silent, so Trowa continued. "I'm not exactly sure where else to start."

"I have a clue," Heero said, facial expression never changing.

"Mind filling me in?"

"It's just a supply company I used when I set them up. It's a secure/no questions asked type of business. They're most likely still running business through them. I could use a map of the place though."

"Just give me a name."

"I sent the name and address to your e-mail a minute ago."

"I'll get right on that then," Trowa said, heading out the door.

"Wait, Trowa," Heero called, "Where's my sister, do you know?"

"She just left with Duo I think."

"Oh," was all Heero said, and when Trowa realized Heero didn't intend to say anything else, he closed the door and left.

* * *

**Authors Note:** For any old readers I have still. This is a heads up. Next Chapter is the last one that I had posted before. However, Upon review I have noticed that it is not long enough to suite the average chapter length. I'm not really sure how this got past me before, but I'm fixing it. So there will be loads of New Material in the next chapter. Have fun reading... oh and REVIEW! I like to hear other peoples thoughts good and bad. Flames are more than welcome because they make me work harder. Just give me some feed back. 3's and I'll get the next chapter out soon.

-Andy


	11. Same old fire new content at the end

**Chapter 11: Same Old Fire **

Laughing Jade exited the dark shop, wearing a new black trucker hat with her hair pulled up into it. Duo, who had picked the hat out, followed close at her heels.

"You know you look like a boy with your hair puller up in that hat," Duo said, leaning over her shoulder.

Jade turned around to face him, "Well then I guess we're even, because you look like a girl with that braid hanging out from under your hat!"

Duo punched Jade in the arm and then started laughing. "I thought I warned you about messing with the braid."

Jade shrugged, "I guess I just wasn't paying attention."

Duo faked surprise, "Really?"

"I know!" Jade laughed back. "So where are we going next?"

"Nothing big," Duo shrugged, "just wanted to stop by someplace real quick, if you don't mind."

Jade's smile was her response.

* * *

Heero sat in the living room organizing his tools that he might need that night.

Quatre walked in with a mug of coffee. "So are you doing some spy work tonight then?"

Heero nodded, "Yes. But hey, have you seen Jade? I need to ask her something."

Quatre shook his head, "She left with Duo awhile ago and they're not back yet."

"Oh, Thanks." Damn Duo.

* * *

Duo stood across the street from the re-built Maxwell Church, with Jade.

"Why are we here?" she whispered, not breaking the mood.

"This is the closest thing I had to a home here," Duo responded. "Well, at least the original building was."

"You lived in a Church?"

"I was a war orphan. I was lucky they took me in. I was rebellious and hated it, but very lucky."

"So let's go in then!" Jade said, after Duo had continued to stare at the building or another minute.

"It's not that easy though. Everything here is a replication! There's even a monument to those who died here! None of those people are even around anymore."

Jade grabbed Duo's arm and started heading across the street. "So we will go for a visit. I see no problem here! Besides, I don't think you walked all the way here just to stand out front."

Duo just shrugged as he followed her through the tall gates, and into the courtyard. It was there that Duo saw it.

Standing in front of the re-constructed church was the statue the colony had erected as a tribute to those who died. The Statue was standing on a huge marble block. Inscribed in the block were the words _The Maxwell Church Tragedy; You will never be forgotten, _Along with the date, and the names of the 245 people who were killed.

Yet, it was the statue that got to Duo the most. The statue was of three people smiling happily at each other. The first was unmistakably Father Maxwell, himself. The second was Sister Helen. The third, Duo recognized as himself as a kid.

"Wow," Jade breathed next to him. "Must be a colony thing, guys having long braided hair." She smiled at him, she knew, she had figured it out on her own.

Duo laughed, "Yeah that's me alright."

"Damn," Jade said. "I've never met someone who was a statue before. Well, at least not someone that I didn't have to kill."

Duo laughed at this, but quickly spun around when he heard, "Duo is that you?" from behind him. Standing before him was an older gentleman adorning the robes of a priest.

"Excuse me?" Duo inquired, not recognizing the man.

The man cleared his throat and spoke again, "I asked if you were Duo."

"Yes, I'm Duo, Duo Maxwell. May I ask who you are?"

"Oh, of course. I am Father Kelly. Umm back before the attacks I was a traveling Priest. We've only met maybe 2 or 3 times."

Duo stood and thought, then it dawned on him. "Oh, I remember you now. You were the man that brought all the kids candy when you came."

Father Kelly nodded his head. "Yes, that was me. I honestly never thought I would see you again." He Laughed, "I actually had wondered if you hadn't died after all."

"I can't believe you thought about me at all."

"Duo, when I heard what had happened to Father Maxwell, and Sister Helen, you were the first person I asked about. You always trailed along behind them. After you came around, I hardly ever saw them without you. So I asked. They assured me that your name had been taken down with the living, but I still had doubts because I never saw you."

Duo ran his figures through his bangs, "I left as soon as I possibly could."

"Well I see you took on the Maxwell name. Does that mean you gave up your childhood fascination with the god of death?"

Jade chuckled in the background as a smile crept through Duo's lips and he said, "Hardly."

* * *

"You're leaving?" Wufei asked looking up from his magazine.

"Gotta get this work done somehow," Heero flatly responded

"You need any cover?"

"Nah," Heero shook his head, "This is just one of those things that will be easier alone. Have you seen Jade though?"

"Yeah, she left with Duo this morning."

"Are they back yet?"

Wufei shook his head. "Not that I've seen."

Heero nodded. "Just do me a favor and let me know when they get back. Text me or something. My phones on silent."

"No problem" Wufei nodded.

* * *

Jade wandered through the streets nearby the Maxwell Church. Duo had sat down to talk to Father Kelly, and that was fine with her. Duo really needed to catch up with people from his past. Jade didn't like the way Duo's happy smile seemed to be fake.

It might be hypocritical, but Jade didn't believe in running from your past. She, herself, had been doing it for far too long. Her phone buzzed. It was Odin.

"Hey" she greated him.

"Hey yourself! Where are you at?"

"Places, why who's asking?"

"Heero's been looking for you all day."

"Let's hope, for your sake, that he doesn't find me."

"What?" Odin stammered, "Why would that be a problem?"

"I don't trust him."

"How can you not trust him? You asked him for his help."

"Yeah, but the scientists got away in the first place."

"Then why ask him to help?" Odin probed, still confused.

"Because, I'm hoping that he will lead me right to them," and with that she glanced to the roofline. A shadow passed by, obviously heading somewhere fast. "and that seems to be what he's doing. Gotta go." Jade hung up the phone, and began pursuit of the shadow, for ground level.

* * *

A man wearing round glasses laughed to himself from the darkened doorway of a nearby building. Jade was still miles ahead of the guys, but she was sometimes so dense. He had been surprised to see her still alive, but this made everything better.

No one had been able to withstand the Zero Chip for long. No one, except Jade that is. Now, as J stood watching the very live Jade chase off down the street after here brother, it became clear to him, that before they could execute their plans, they needed the girl.

* * *

**A/N:**

**READ THIS CHAPTER!!!!! It starts off the same as the previous release of this story, but it has new material at the end. From here on out it's all new. Don't miss a beat. Also, reviews would be nice. I kinda don't know what people are thinking in regards to this story right now. Even Flames are welcome. If lot's of people flame, then I just know that I need to work harder. Tah for now! See Ya'll again soon.**


	12. Scared of the dark?

**Chapter 12: Scared of the Dark?**

Jade pursued the shadow. At first she had thought that the shadow might be her brother, but she had quickly realized that she was wrong. This shadow was leading her somewhere. It was deliberately waiting for her to follow it. Heero would be heading to his own destination; he would not be out here leading her around town.

Still this shadow had a very Gundam way of moving. _Who is it?_

The shadow slowed down again to see if she was following. She smiled to herself as she ducked out of sight and made a dash to cut it off. She was good at this game.

* * *

Relena stood at the window looking out at the colony. They had worked so hard to achieve peace, why were people so determined to keep fighting? What ideals were left to fight for? No one was being suppressed. Every one that wanted a say in policies had a say in them.

_Why did Jade appear now?_ Relena wondered. She had always wondered about the dark cloud she thought was following Heero. Why couldn't he just live a normal life?

Now Relena was starting to realize that Jade was the only thing following Heero. The dark cloud that she saw was really following Jade. What kind of urgent war was Jade bringing with her? It had to be important if it had all the Pilots scrabbling for space again.

Relena down as a car drove past. There were so many things she wanted answered, but she knew that she just had to be strong and trust Heero. Heero could take care of it, just like he said; it was his sister after all. Relena heard Trowa enter the room behind her.

"I really don't like her," Relena commented.

"Who? Jade?"

"Yes. I don't trust her. I'm still convinced that she has her own agenda with this all. She never fought in the war! She didn't fight for the peace. She could just be trying to stir up trouble!"

Trowa shook his head walking up to the window, "I don't think so. She seems genuine. Heero trusts her, and I figure, given the situation he would know best."

"I'd have to disagree. She seems to have the worst affect on Heero. Ever since she came around Heero has clamed up and refused to share anything voluntarily. Nothing she says makes sense. If she was such a great fighter why would she completely abandon the fight at the brink of war. She had nothing to lose at that point. Earth was almost destroyed for gods sake! If she is better than Heero, then why does she need him to save her?"

"Relena, you analyze it to much. Jade is barley older than we were during the war. She could have been scared. We were barley old enough to deal with the pressure. I blocked it out for awhile even! What could you expect from her, when she had already been out of the game for awhile.

Besides, I see a lot of myself in her. She is a great fighter, but she lacks emotion. She has nothing to protect. If anything, that would be the reason why Heero could still beat her. We should help her with that! She needs to know that she doesn't need to have the all soldier attitude anymore."

Relena frowned, "I don't think that's the problem. It seems to me that she has just grown up never having to think about anything but herself! First thing that goes wrong she runs for her brother, whether she needs him or not!

I don't like how she's hanging around Duo either. I'm almost certain that as soon as she gets whatever fixed, she'll take right off again. I don't think Duo can handle that! You saw how broken up he was when Hilde called it off. It took him months before he could even talk to her again, and she is his best friend."

"I don't think you have to worry about Duo," Trowa said shaking his head. "He can handle himself. I think we should worry more about the new enemies ahead, rather than the new ally we have gathered."

Relena nodded, she understood. "I just can't help but feel uneasy."

"We'll be fine. Trust me!"

* * *

Wufei stopped again at the corner of a building so that Jade could catch another glimpse of him. She was good at keeping up with him. He had been running his hardest for a few blocks now, and she never once fell behind. He took off again.

Wufei had set out to find Jade after Heero had inquired about her whereabouts the 3rd time that night. It was obvious that Heero did not like the idea of Jade and Duo being near each other at all. If this continued Heero would get angry and start taking it out on other people.

Wufei wasn't happy about Jade hanging out with Duo either. There was something about this girl that just didn't sit right with him. She was a woman parading around as being stronger than she was. It made him sick.

Besides, Wufei knew Duo. Duo got attached to people easily. If Jade turned out to be as bad a Wufei feared, then it would be hard to break Duo away from her. Duo was always excited to have new friends. It was like he was just collecting lost puppies.

Wufei stopped to let Jade see him again, but she wasn't there. Had she given up? He jumped over to the next rooftop anyways, and was surprised to see Jade standing there.

"Wufei, tisk tisk, now why would you be hiding in the shadows from me?"

"Who said anything about hiding?" Wufei asked. "It seems to me that we're standing face to face and no one is running."

Jade laughed. "Wufei I have better things to do with my time than listen to your ego trip."

"What like hanging on Duo?"

"You don't even know what you're talking about."

"Just know, Heero has taken notice, and he's not happy about it."

"My brother doesn't matter. I'll deal with him later. Somehow though, I doubt that you searched me out just to let me know that. Why are you here?"

"You still owe me a fight," he said taking a ready stance. "You said that you could take me on even though you're just a woman. I wasn't done with you. So let's go now."

Jade smirked and nodded, "Ok then."

Wufei watched as she dropped her right foot behind her and moved into the ready stance. A split second later he watched as her entire body involuntarily shivered. _What was that about?_

Jade looked panicked for a second, but quickly regained her composure. "You know what?" she asked. "I don't think I will. We'll do it on my terms, when I want to."

"Jade, you can't take me on if you keep passing out when we fight! What kind of super pilot are you if you can't even make it through a fight with me without falling to pieces?"

"I hardly fall to pieces," she retorted. Her entire body shivered again. "But I would be a damn good pilot." With that she took off running full speed in the other direction.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that something was wrong with Jade. Sally had gave him some half ass excuse about her being dehydrated. He had only accepted it because he didn't want to spend anymore time talking to Sally than was necessary at the moment.

Wufei wanted the truth this time! He was going to get it out of her. He ran after Jade, right on her heals.

* * *

**Authors note: What do you think? I didn't get any feed back on my last chapter ( I've found new inspiration for this though, so hopefully I can knock these chapter off a bit easier from now on. Review do keep me motivated though –Hint Hint- lol. I'm kidding though, don't review if you don't want to. Peace and love 'til the next time.**

**Andy**


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